Riddle apologizes to Edney about water controversy

Young, Lapsley spar over Pardee sale talk

Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, April 28, 2014 at 11:54 p.m.

District 1 commissioner candidate Andrew Riddle has pulled back from his criticism of Commissioner Mike Edney's handling of a 1995 regional water agreement, pulling down campaign signs on the issue and apologizing for singling out his challenger.

Riddle apologized to Edney during an ECO campaign forum last week, telling him directly, "You're a good man, a decent man, you've put your time in and I'm sorry." He also promised to take down a series of signs saying "Edney sold Mills River.”

Throughout the District 1 primary battle, Riddle had blamed Edney for “selling the (county's) water rights to the city of Asheville” in 1995 when the city, Buncombe and Henderson County reached a regional water agreement allowing the city to pull water from the French Broad River near its confluence with the Mills River.

Edney defended himself by saying he was only one of four commissioners who approved the water pact, and pointing out that the agreement led to water infrastructure in Mills River and Fletcher that allowed millions of dollars in economic development and thousands of jobs.

“It was a board vote, not just Edney's,” Riddle agreed Sunday. “I felt it inappropriate to single him out individually.”

Although Riddle still disagrees with giving Asheville the intake, he said “my respect for this office and character of this campaign are more important. Admitting an error in judgment is often more important than being right.”

Riddle said he still believes the county needs “new leadership, with a long-term plan incorporating the citizens' goals and objectives for Henderson County. One of them being acquiring back our water in Mills River.”

Edney, who argues that Asheville only has access to any water leftover after Henderson County's needs are met, accepted Riddle's apology and chocked the issue up to his opponent's greenness.

“This is Andrew's first run at a campaign, so I think some inexperience has shown through on this and some other issues,” he said. “But by the same token, running against an incumbent when there's really not issues out there – we're in great financial shape, we've got money in the bank, we have a good relationship with the schools – it puts somebody searching for issues.”

Young vs. Lapsley

While the District 1 race grew more civil, the contest for the District 3 commissioner's seat became more heated. Following an exchange between incumbent Larry Young and challenger Bill Lapsley at an April 9 forum, Lapsley sent out a mailer to voters last week painting Young as interested in selling Pardee Hospital in 2010.

The mailer quotes former Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Moyer as saying “We have one county commissioner, Larry Young, who is advocating this (the sale) and I want to give him time to explain his thoughts.”

The mailer says “Larry will say anything to stay in office. When it fulfilled his agenda in 2010, Pardee was his pawn. Now that his agenda is re-election, his story has changed.”

Young maintained Monday that he “never, ever said I wanted to sell the hospital. In fact, I led the charge to change management when the hospital was not making money and we were worried it wouldn't survive.”

He also pointed to a unanimous vote of the Board of Commissioners on Oct. 20, 2010, in which he supported a resolution stating “that this board has no present intention to sell the hospital and that the board's position at this time is that the hospital should not be sold.”

Lapsley said he sent out the mailer to defend himself after Young accused him of lying about a sequence of events he laid out at the League of Women Voters forum on April 9. At that event, Lapsley said Young threatened to sell the hospital if Pardee board members didn't support a Wingate University proposal to train its pharmacy students.

Young admitted he leaned on board members to accept the Wingate proposal, as well as to reconsider the terms of a joint venture between Pardee and Mission Hospital to build a 130,000-square-foot outpatient facility on the county line.

“What it was, I told Bill Moyer, if we go into this joint venture with Mission as a one-sided affair and we're not an equal partner (in the facility), then they'll be a time we'll have to sell the hospital,” Young said. “I was just trying to get them to see that we had to have an equal say-so. But I never said I wanted to sell the hospital.”

Lapsley, who chaired the Pardee board then, remembers things differently. He said Young threatened to use his power on the Board of Commissioners to replace board members if they didn't go along with Wingate's demands, kill the joint venture and sell the hospital.

“The (Pardee) board was concerned about it, the employees were concerned about it, so Bill Moyer called a special meeting to address the rumors of the sale,” said Lapsley. That was the Oct. 20 meeting his mailer referenced.

Young said that's all they were – rumors. He said the minutes of the Oct. 20 meeting “proves that I didn't want to sell the hospital, because I voted against it. And that's not rumors, that's fact.”

<p>District 1 commissioner candidate Andrew Riddle has pulled back from his criticism of Commissioner Mike Edney's handling of a 1995 regional water agreement, pulling down campaign signs on the issue and apologizing for singling out his challenger.</p><p>Riddle apologized to Edney during an ECO campaign forum last week, telling him directly, "You're a good man, a decent man, you've put your time in and I'm sorry." He also promised to take down a series of signs saying "Edney sold Mills River.”</p><p>Throughout the District 1 primary battle, Riddle had blamed Edney for “selling the (county's) water rights to the city of Asheville” in 1995 when the city, Buncombe and Henderson County reached a regional water agreement allowing the city to pull water from the French Broad River near its confluence with the Mills River.</p><p>Edney defended himself by saying he was only one of four commissioners who approved the water pact, and pointing out that the agreement led to water infrastructure in Mills River and Fletcher that allowed millions of dollars in economic development and thousands of jobs.</p><p>“It was a board vote, not just Edney's,” Riddle agreed Sunday. “I felt it inappropriate to single him out individually.”</p><p>Although Riddle still disagrees with giving Asheville the intake, he said “my respect for this office and character of this campaign are more important. Admitting an error in judgment is often more important than being right.”</p><p>Riddle said he still believes the county needs “new leadership, with a long-term plan incorporating the citizens' goals and objectives for Henderson County. One of them being acquiring back our water in Mills River.”</p><p>Edney, who argues that Asheville only has access to any water leftover after Henderson County's needs are met, accepted Riddle's apology and chocked the issue up to his opponent's greenness.</p><p>“This is Andrew's first run at a campaign, so I think some inexperience has shown through on this and some other issues,” he said. “But by the same token, running against an incumbent when there's really not issues out there – we're in great financial shape, we've got money in the bank, we have a good relationship with the schools – it puts somebody searching for issues.”</p><p></p><p><b>Young vs. Lapsley </b></p><p></p><p>While the District 1 race grew more civil, the contest for the District 3 commissioner's seat became more heated. Following an exchange between incumbent Larry Young and challenger Bill Lapsley at an April 9 forum, Lapsley sent out a mailer to voters last week painting Young as interested in selling Pardee Hospital in 2010.</p><p>The mailer quotes former Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Moyer as saying “We have one county commissioner, Larry Young, who is advocating this (the sale) and I want to give him time to explain his thoughts.”</p><p>The mailer says “Larry will say anything to stay in office. When it fulfilled his agenda in 2010, Pardee was his pawn. Now that his agenda is re-election, his story has changed.”</p><p>Young maintained Monday that he “never, ever said I wanted to sell the hospital. In fact, I led the charge to change management when the hospital was not making money and we were worried it wouldn't survive.”</p><p>He also pointed to a unanimous vote of the Board of Commissioners on Oct. 20, 2010, in which he supported a resolution stating “that this board has no present intention to sell the hospital and that the board's position at this time is that the hospital should not be sold.”</p><p>Lapsley said he sent out the mailer to defend himself after Young accused him of lying about a sequence of events he laid out at the League of Women Voters forum on April 9. At that event, Lapsley said Young threatened to sell the hospital if Pardee board members didn't support a Wingate University proposal to train its pharmacy students.</p><p>Young admitted he leaned on board members to accept the Wingate proposal, as well as to reconsider the terms of a joint venture between Pardee and Mission Hospital to build a 130,000-square-foot outpatient facility on the county line.</p><p>“What it was, I told Bill Moyer, if we go into this joint venture with Mission as a one-sided affair and we're not an equal partner (in the facility), then they'll be a time we'll have to sell the hospital,” Young said. “I was just trying to get them to see that we had to have an equal say-so. But I never said I wanted to sell the hospital.”</p><p>Lapsley, who chaired the Pardee board then, remembers things differently. He said Young threatened to use his power on the Board of Commissioners to replace board members if they didn't go along with Wingate's demands, kill the joint venture and sell the hospital.</p><p>“The (Pardee) board was concerned about it, the employees were concerned about it, so Bill Moyer called a special meeting to address the rumors of the sale,” said Lapsley. That was the Oct. 20 meeting his mailer referenced.</p><p>Young said that's all they were – rumors. He said the minutes of the Oct. 20 meeting “proves that I didn't want to sell the hospital, because I voted against it. And that's not rumors, that's fact.”</p><p>___</p><p>Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.</p>